Basic authentication: Difference between revisions

From Barion Documentation
Jump to navigation Jump to search
No edit summary
mNo edit summary
 
(9 intermediate revisions by one other user not shown)
Line 1: Line 1:
__NOTOC__
{{PageTitle|title=Basic Authentication}}
{{PageTitle|title=Basic Authentication}}


A client that wants to authenticate itself with the server can do so by including an Authorization request header field with the credentials. In the case of a "Basic" authentication, the exchange must happen over an HTTPS (TLS) connection. Username and password are passed over the network as a base64 encoded string with a ":" separated. The following is a correct example of the Authorization header:<br/>
If a client wants to authenticate itself with the server during an API call can do so by using a standard HTTP Basic Auth request header with the necessary credentials. This eliminates the need for supplying a username and password combination in the query string, which is a far less secure method. Logging in with Basic Authentication is the preferred mode. The querystring method is not secure.
<code>Authorization: Basix YWxhZGRpbjpvcGVuc2VzYW1l</code>
 
<br/><br/>
== Usage ==
If the "Authorization" header is present, username and password will be fetched form the header, the ones passed in the querystring will be ignored. Should the authentication be unsuccessful (either username and/or password could not be decoded from the header, or the authentication type is not basic) HTTP 401 (Unathorized) will be the response. Invalid username/password yields a HTTP 400 (Bad Request) response. If the "Authorization" header is not present, credentials will retrieved from the querystring.
 
In case of a '''Basic''' authentication, communication must take place over an HTTPS (TLS) connection. The username and password are passed over the network as strings separated by a semicolon (":"), then converted into a base64 string.  
 
Example authentication data:<br/>
<code>MyUser:MY_Str0ng_P455w0Rd</code>
 
Example HTTP header:<br/>
<code>Authorization: Basic TXlVc2VyOk1ZX1N0cjBuZ19QNDU1dzBSZA==</code>
 
<br>
Detailed information about basic authentication can be found in RFC 7617:
https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc7617
 
== Server response ==
If the '''Authorization''' header is present, username and password will be fetched form the header. In this case, any authentication data passed in the query string will be ignored.  
* If the authentication data could not be decoded from the header, or the authentication type is not ''Basic'' the response will be <code>HTTP 401 Unathorized</code>.
* If the username/password combination is invalid, the response will be <code>HTTP 400 Bad Request</code>.
* If the '''Authorization''' header is not present, credentials will be retrieved from the query string, and if incorrect, the response will be a JSON output describing the authentication error.
 
== Allowed authentication data ==
At the moment, only endpoints authenticated with '''username''' and '''password''' can be used with HTTP Basic Auth. Every other authentication parameters (e.g. '''POSKey''') should be sent in the query string when executing <code>GET</code> requests.

Latest revision as of 12:44, 5 December 2019

Basic Authentication

If a client wants to authenticate itself with the server during an API call can do so by using a standard HTTP Basic Auth request header with the necessary credentials. This eliminates the need for supplying a username and password combination in the query string, which is a far less secure method. Logging in with Basic Authentication is the preferred mode. The querystring method is not secure.

Usage

In case of a Basic authentication, communication must take place over an HTTPS (TLS) connection. The username and password are passed over the network as strings separated by a semicolon (":"), then converted into a base64 string.

Example authentication data:
MyUser:MY_Str0ng_P455w0Rd

Example HTTP header:
Authorization: Basic TXlVc2VyOk1ZX1N0cjBuZ19QNDU1dzBSZA==


Detailed information about basic authentication can be found in RFC 7617: https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc7617

Server response

If the Authorization header is present, username and password will be fetched form the header. In this case, any authentication data passed in the query string will be ignored.

  • If the authentication data could not be decoded from the header, or the authentication type is not Basic the response will be HTTP 401 Unathorized.
  • If the username/password combination is invalid, the response will be HTTP 400 Bad Request.
  • If the Authorization header is not present, credentials will be retrieved from the query string, and if incorrect, the response will be a JSON output describing the authentication error.

Allowed authentication data

At the moment, only endpoints authenticated with username and password can be used with HTTP Basic Auth. Every other authentication parameters (e.g. POSKey) should be sent in the query string when executing GET requests.